...Updating my Blog Regularly

Yes, yes, I know I am a terrible person. My mother keeps reminding me to update this blog, and I keep pushing it back. So here we go. Let's see how well I can catch you all up on the last month without boring you half to death.

Unfortunately, my research has remained slow and not-so-steady, but alas, thus is the nature of research. But we have made some progress. We were able to induce a current flow through our needle, and to view some liquid crystal being deposited onto the tip of the needle. However, the needle became clogged, and is now in Texas for repairs. I've been practicing making thin films for the past few days, and trying to print onto them using an inkjet printhead. The film keeps breaking, but eventually I'll get the voltage right. I hope, at least.

I've been biking a lot. A lot a lot. I climbed my first mountain! There's a town called Jamestown about 17 miles from Boulder, up Lefthand Canyon. It's a gorgeous ride, but a strenuous one. I've tried a few different climbs since them... all of them harder than Jamestown, but each more beautiful than the last. I love being in a city where you can get to Sunshine Canyon in 20 minutes, a looking-glass lake in half an hour, and beautiful mountain top towns after several miles of a long ride.

For the fourth of July weekend I went with my hall-mates, among others, to spend two nights camping outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. I made fire! Legitimate fire! Using flint and magnesium... and a paper plate. It was two days of hot dogs, s'mores, and huddling around the campfire. Magical.

On the first morning we took a long hike up to the peak of the closest mountain. The landscape near the top was eerie... sandy and barren, with ghost-like tree corpses lying around our feet.

The views from up there were gorgeous. We went up to a lower rise to watch the sunset, and see the stars, and I don't think I'd ever seen a more beautiful night sky.

When we weren't hiking, we were playing t-rex football and frisbee, climbing trees, and wrestling each other.

Oh, wait, you've never heard of T-rex football? Think about it this way - T-rexes have tiny arms. Not very useful. If you mix a T-rex with sporting goods, this is what you get. Meet Miguel, the king of T-rex sports.

Once we tired of T-rex football, it became "anything but hands" football. Sam won. Hands down.

And as I leave work for the day, I will leave you with two beautiful shots of the view from the top of our hike on that morning. This week will be a week of ponies, biking, and delicious food. Hopefully I can motivate myself to update more often. Hopefully.

Love you all bunches!
Amy!